Gavaskar hits out at Duncan Fletcher, says Team India need a younger coach

New Delhi: Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar came down heavily on the under-fire coach Duncan Fletcher and voiced for his removal after Team India lost crucial series overseas and the recently concluded Asia Cup.

In his column for a national daily, Gavaskar wrote that under the former Zimbabwe cricketer, the Indian players looked extremely ordinary.

"Indian cricket seems to be in a freefall that looks tough to arrest," Gavaskar wrote in the column.

"What Indian cricket needs right now is a younger coach who will want to be out working with the team and not looking to put his feet up at the slightest chance," he wrote.

Earlier, the Indian cricket team's run of poor form also prompted Gavaskar to come down heavily on the beleaguered players, questioning their "abysmal work ethic" following the side's defeat to arch-rivals Pakistan in the Asia Cup.

India suffered a nerve-wracking one-wicket defeat at the hands of Pakistan in Mirpur.

"India's work ethic has been pretty abysmal. It has let the team down. They have not practised well and there can nothing be something like optional practice. There was no excuse for anyone apart from Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli to miss practice," Gavaskar said.

Gavaskar also lashed out at the top order, saying that the batsmen were over-confident and failed in shot-selection.

"India threw away a couple of wickets unnecessarily and every time Pakistan have been asked to chase 250 recently, they have failed. So, we were a few runs short," said the former skipper.